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Jamal Murray scored 28 points, Jerami Grant recorded a playoff career-high 26 points and Nikola Jokic had 22 points to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 114-106 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
The Nuggets brought the energy and effort early in the contest after jumping out to a 10-point lead at halftime, their first lead at the intermission in seven games. Denver then extended their lead to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter, the largest deficit the Lakers had faced all postseason long, but nearly lost control of the game from there.
LeBron James scored 13 of his 30 total points in the fourth quarter, Anthony Davis had 10 of his 27 points and Rajon Rondo had three key steals as the Lakers went on a 21-6 run to cut the deficit to three points with 5:26 left in the period. From there, the Lakers surrendered a 13-8 run and the Nuggets sealed the win to bring the series to 2-1.
The Nuggets picked up their first win of the WCF, defeating the Lakers 114-106.
The score was 101-98 in favor of the Nuggets with 5 minutes to go.
Denver outscored the Lakers 13-8 down the stretch, while LA shot 0-5 in the final 5 minutes. pic.twitter.com/lte4gicnnE
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 23, 2020
Monte Morris led the Nuggets’ efforts off the bench with 14 points while Michael Porter Jr. had nine points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals in 22 minutes of work. Porter helped the Nuggets make a run in the second quarter when they started the period off with a 21-5 run to take the lead heading into halftime.
The Nuggets vastly outplayed and outhustled the Lakers throughout the contest. Denver outrebounded L.A. 44-25 and held the Lakers to 6-of-26 shooting from 3-point range. Davis, who hauled in 19 rebounds over the first two games of the series, was held without a rebound until the 4:56 mark of the fourth quarter.
Denver showed no lingering effects from the game-winning shot by Davis in Game 2 as time expired and bounced back with a tremendous performance to avoid a 3-0 series deficit. The Nuggets have proven to be a resilient team during the playoffs and can now tie the series in Game 4 on Thursday.
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